Stocking



Jam my 195@ H. R. HINKLEY 2,49494 STOCKING Filed March 20, 1947 2Sheets-Sheet l Ffj.

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I N VEN TOR:

W l TNESSES l y He/Wg. [2/1H@ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 10, 1950 Umrao STATES. PATENT; orFlcE SVISOCKIN'GL yHenryv Rl Hinkley,A Lebanon,i Ba. assignm:` to..

Nollfend Hosiery,v Inc., ,Bhil'adelllllia,` Pa., a. cor.- porationoffennsylyania appinatibnMamr-izo, lamentiamo; *1 -35,973

, 3 Claims... (ci. nol-8.7)'

This. invention relates to seamed.- fullfashioned; stockings.,particularly; to. that variety;which; produced from blanks which are datknittedcoma plete with leg and foot in a single operation-,onstraightknitting machines of the Cotton type. It has been quite commonheretofore to form; laterally-projecting heel cheeks on. continuous'integrally knit; dat stockingblanks by transferring. groups; of; endloopsj outwardly inYsuccessite.v courses of; the knitting at a constantrate,\,..and;I by correspondingly increasing the travelbf; the:` yarncarriers of. theproduoing machines. Howeever.; due to the imposedvnecessity for terminata, ing the heel Widenings at prescribed.points-onl the blanks, the; possibility of; securing; properlyproportioned heel cheeks by the customary method' was very.r limited.In; otherwordsthe, formation of heel cheeks otfacceptable; lengths(height) necessitatedY outward transfer; of; rela-` tively small groupsof end loops with,,consequent..A

compromise in the heel widths; whereas the4 formation of? heel.. cheeksof acceptable widths entailed the transfer of larger groups of end loopsto the disadvantage of unduly lengthening the cheeks.

My invention is directed toward` overcoming the above drawbacks, that isto say: it has for its aims to provide stockings of the kind referred towith heels which are not only properlydi-A mensioned asV to length andwidth, but properly shaped and proportioned for different nominal footsizes; and moreover, to provide asimple method whereby blanks forVstockings baiting these attributes can be expeditiously and; ineX.-pensively produced in quantity.

How the foregoing objectives are realized-in practiceis set forth in thedetailed description hereinafter of the attached drawings, `wlrlereinFig'. l shows, in sldeelevation, aV ladys stocking conveniently`embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 fragmentary view of the unseamed flat selvaged knittedblankforthe stocking as vit appears upon removal from the-producing ma- Chne. i

Eig. `3is..af` fragmentary-view of the areaofigthe blanky indicated bythe rectangle III in Fig. 2, showing the interioopinent in one of theheel cheeks and, more or less diagrammatically, the parts of theknitting machine utilized in the formation of such cheek in accordancewith my invention.

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary views corresponding to Fig. 2 and showingmodifications of my invention.

.. thatop welt.. I1 and. in. the region of the calfv llt.

'll-iefootE 6 ,maybe finished with. a. conventional diamond point.4toeA` I9 l as illustrated by' way' of example,l or. in any otherapproved: or desired manner;

The heel, with. which the present; invention-isA more especiallyconcerned, results from the for-L. mation, at, eacn side edge of theblank, a. laterally extending, cheek.l ortab 2li which terminates. in asquare.r bottom 2l Land Y meetswith corresponding ,4 scler` edge --22.ofthe.` instep ina squarel cor-ner at.

2.3, Each. heeltab.. is-connected tothe body of thefblankrby a. suturelinecomposed of two. con.

necting segments; 25, 2.6.which1lieat an obtuse angle.. tor eachotherand are both inclined with., respecttother-longitudinalmedian of theblank,

the segment. 2,5-being, in this instance, consider.- ablylonger than;the. segment 26` and the latter.

extending to the corner juncture 23.4between.` the.-

TheA

cheek bottom 2|.. andthe instep edge 22. side edgeportion 2 1. or eachheel bottom is parallel with` thelongitudinal median of the blank and;basav marginal portion. 2.8 set apart by a Y fashioning suture 29,l inwhich the walesv run.

My improved stocking as shown in Fig. 1 is 55 straight. whilethose in.the restot the, tabf are inclined and-parallel` with the suture segment.25andfthe side-Ledge ofvSllfof the upper portion. ofthecheek.v

- The, blank, l0. for.v the. stocking.v is knitted. in .the

usual..y manner. down through the-leg ato the.,

completion. otA the ankle at the line 31.-.-3lin. Fig. 2. At this stage,the transfer point combs Il are placed in operation, and as the knittingproceeds, the loops from definite numbers of end needles are transferredoutwardly in alternate courses each time to the next adjacent needleswith incidental formation of the suture segments 25. During this phase,the traverse of the yarn carrier 8 is increased concurrently with thealternate outward shifts of the transfer point combs Il so that thecorresponding outer edge portions initiation of fashioning sutures 29inward of the opposite side edges of the blank. The last de# scribedprocedure is followed until a line 32-32 is reached at which the upperportions of ,thf heel cheeks are completed. In the knitting whichimmediately follows, the point combs are given idle outward shiftsbetween active dips in alternate courses without change in the constanttraverse of the carrier 8. Loops are thereby transferred each time fromwales within the body of the blank spaced by two insteadofvbyone inialternate courses, with attendant lformation of suture segments 2S indirect continuation of the segments 25, at an obtuse angle to them, and

with prolongation of the straight wale margins 28 and their deningsutures 29 tothe comple-A tion of the lower portions of the heel cheeksat the line 2l-2I. At the'line 2|`2I the traverse of the yarn carrier 8is reducedto the desired width of the instep between the points 23 ,23.

After the knitting of a few courses to aline 33- -33 to form the shortfabric section with parallel side edges immediately beyondl the heelcheeks, the traverse of the carrier is progres-l sively reduced for atime to form a narrowed sec,-l

tion with inwardly sloped side edges as at 34 until a line 35-35'isreached, whereafter the' traverse of the carrier 8 is maintainedconstant during knitting of the foot to the course at which the toe I9is to be begun in the customary manner. l

The width of the heel cheek bottoms andthe shape of the outer cornersofsaid cheeks may be varied in accordance with my invention, by

beginning the use of the cover plates H earlier than above exempliedduring the knitting of the upper portion of the heel cheeks; by delay;ing the use of said combs until the line 32-32 is reached; or bystillfurther delaying their use until some time after the line 32,-32 isreached., The results of the two latter alternatives are shown in Figs.4 and 5 respectively. In Fig. 4`

the use of cover plates was begun at thelin'e 32-32 concurrently withstarting of the second phase Yof the heel cheek knitting; while in Fig.5,'

the use of said plates was begun later at aline 32h-32h beyond the line`32e-32 and duringthc second phase of heel cheek knitting.

I do not, of course, consider myself limited lto ,y

the precise procedures above set forth by way of example, sinceconsiderable further `variations are possible within the scope oftheappended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.Thus, for example, the proportioning of the heel cheeksmay be changed byincrease ,f Number Name Date 1,652,849 Weissbach Dec. 13, 1927 1,743,347Hilscher Jan. 14, 1930 1,746,846 Wieland Feb. 11, 1930 2,154,602 BergerApr. 18, 1939 2,319,224 Garrett May 18, 1943 2,330,681 Cobert Sept. 28,1943 2,330,683 Cobert Sept. 28, 1943 2,347,457 Boedeker Apr. 25, 19442,385,672 Woodcock Sept. 25, 1945 2,390,003 Schmidt NOV. 27, 19452,424,957 Schletter July 29, 1947 2,452,836 Cobert Nov. 2, 1948` FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 227,594 Great Britain Jan. 22, 1925 ordecrease in the number oi heel needles employed with correspondingchanges in the traverse of the yarn carrier; and by aiecting thetransfers in more remotely spaced courses; and/or increasing the idleshifts of the narrowing combs between dips.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A stocking formed from an integrally knit fashioned flat blankcomplete with leg and foot, characterized by having at its opposite sideedges, angularly oiset laterally extending heel cheeks beginning at thecompletion of the ankle and terminating in transverse edge segmentsbeyond the side edges of the instep, the upper portions of the heelcheeks being outwardly displaced by Aprogressive transfer of loops fromspaced wales within the body of the blank to the extent of at least oneWale in spaced courses, and whereof the lower portions are displacedoutwardly by progressive transfer of loops from wales within the body'of the blank spaced by a greater distance than in the upper portion, thesutures resulting from the transferring having segments at an obtuseangle to each other both inclined to the longitudinal axis of the blankand terminating at the juncture corners between the heel cheek bottomsand the side edges of the instep.

2. A stocking according to claim 1, further characterized in that thewidening at the outer bottomcorners of the heel cheeks is terminated atdefinite wales inward from. the side edges of the blank with theresulting sutures extending along said definite wales parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the blank.

3. A stocking according to claim l, whereof the blank is furthercharacterized by having, immediately beyond the heel cheeks, a shortsection of uniform width with parallel side edges extending from theinner terminals of the traverse edge segments; and a narrowed portionbetween said short section and the foot portion of the blank.

HENRY R. HINKLEY.

REFERENCES CITED T he following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

, UNITED STATES PATENTS

